


baby’s breath

by jjokkiri



Category: X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:14:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri
Summary: Eunsang is five when he first learns that he has superpowers.He’s seventeen when he uses his powers for something meaningful to his heart.
Relationships: Kang Minhee/Lee Eunsang
Comments: 9
Kudos: 68





	baby’s breath

**Author's Note:**

> In response to a vague prompt from a dear friend—thank you, F. ♡

Eunsang is five when he first learns that he has superpowers. He’s a stumbling child who can barely walk in a straight line—barely capable of more than a few complete sentences—when he learns that he has superpowers. He remembers it vividly: his mother panics when his stumbling feet take him towards a fallen item in the middle of their living room. She freaks out when he picks up the gunmetal-finished pocketwatch left on the floor and before she can take it away from him, everything freezes around him. 

And when everything turns back to normal, his parents pretend nothing happened. And for the next few years, his parents are careful to not leave any watches around him. It’s all an abrupt change that Eunsang, at five, doesn’t understand. His parents stop wearing analog clocks on their wrists and they accustom themselves to telling time with their cellphones. The analog clock that used to be mounted in the living room above the television is replaced with a digital clock that shows the time in bright green lights.

Eunsang is seven when he understands why all the watches in the house were taken away from him. He loses his mother in the grocery store and, in a panic to find his parents, he catches the hand of an elderly man who is wearing an expensive watch on his wrist and everything freezes again. And when he moves his hand away from the watch, the world around him starts moving again.

Eunsang is ten when he _really_ learns what it means to have superpowers.

He runs out onto the street to chase a ball that rolled away from him without looking both ways and he grabs Dongpyo’s hand when his neighbour runs out onto the street after him to push him away from the speeding car rushing down their street. His hand comes in contact with the watch around Dongpyo’s wrist and everything stops around them. Dongpyo stares up at him; wide eyes—fear and amazement.

He learns that when he puts his hands on a watch, time stops around him.

He learns that when he puts his hands on anything else that is living and breathing at the same moment, he takes them with him when time stops.

He learns that this is something special.

* * *

(He makes Dongpyo promise him that they won’t tell anyone about it. He makes Dongpyo promise him that he’ll always look both ways before he crosses the street from now on. Dongpyo nods his head insistently when he grabs the ball from Eunsang’s arms and runs back into his house.)

* * *

When Eunsang is thirteen, his parents decide that they will move to a different city. Dongpyo cries for two days about losing his favourite friend and Eunsang promises that he’ll come back to visit when he can. Dongpyo makes Eunsang’s parents promise that they will take him back to visit.

And before Eunsang leaves, Dongpyo meets him at the edge of their street and hands him a box. He looks like he’s been crying for days and he looks down at his feet when he gives Eunsang the box.

“I bought you something,” Dongpyo says. He frowns, “I spent everything in my piggy bank for it. You better not lose it. I’m going to ask to see it when you come back to see me.”

Eunsang hugs him tightly and whispers a soft _‘thank you, Dongpyo’_ for the gift. He doesn’t open the gift in front of Dongpyo.

He leaves for Seoul with his parents with the box clutched tightly in his arms.

In Seoul, no one knows about his powers.

* * *

(Eunsang opens the box when he’s fourteen-and-a-half. It’s a small, silver-finished pocketwatch.)

* * *

Eunsang is fifteen when he meets Kang Minhee for the first time.

Minhee is a new transfer to their school. He doesn’t know anyone and he’s awkward when he introduces himself to the class. He’s pretty and he is assigned the seat right beside Eunsang in their literature classroom. It’s a boring class and Minhee falls asleep constantly on the desk beside Eunsang. He props up the textbook they’re meant to be reading in front of his face and falls asleep with his face buried into his arms.

Eunsang doesn’t actually speak to him until he finds Minhee’s literature notebook in the hallway, fallen and forgotten. There isn’t a name written on the notebook, but he knows that it belongs to Minhee because there is a frail white flower pressed between the pages. Even though he hasn’t ever spoken to Kang Minhee, he knows because he glances over at the other boy when he’s asleep and he notices the little details.

He waits for Minhee outside of their classroom the next day with his notebook in his hands.

Minhee looks surprised to see someone waiting for him. He’s quiet as he approaches Eunsang, his eyes trained on the notebook in Eunsang’s hands.

“You dropped it in the hallway,” Eunsang explains with a shrug of his shoulders. Minhee nods his head in understanding. “I found it yesterday and I thought I should give it back to you before class.”

There’s a silence between them. Eunsang awkwardly offers the notebook to Minhee.

“Why do you always sleep in class?” Eunsang asks quietly as he hands Minhee his notebook back. Minhee takes the notebook gratefully. He thanks him for finding it.

Minhee smiles at him and shrugs his shoulders, “I just didn’t get to sleep last night.”

Eunsang frowns but doesn’t ask any other questions.

* * *

Eunsang is sixteen when he brings the pocketwatch that Dongpyo gave him to school.

He barely pays attention in class that day. He watches as Minhee falls asleep on his desk. He studies his seatmate’s long eyelashes and the soft curve of his cheek. Minhee is pretty and there is something captivating about him, something that makes him not want to look away. Eunsang finds himself stealing glances at his sleeping seatmate for a majority of the period. He does his best to catch up with his notes when he tears his eyes away. And when the bell rings for the end of the school day, Eunsang pulls the pocketwatch out of his pocket and stops time.

He sneaks Minhee’s notebook from under his textbook and picks up his pen. He copies his own notes into the blank page of Minhee’s notebook. He moves the white flower from its previous page to mark the page he copied out for Minhee. And then he returns the notebook to its place under Minhee’s textbook.

And when time starts flowing again, he wakes Minhee up with a gentle shake.

“Hey,” he calls. “Class is over.”

Minhee groggily looks at him. Eunsang smiles at him.

“It’s time to go home,” he says. Minhee nods his head and rubs his eyes as their classmates filed out of the classroom. Eunsang packs up his bag and leaves without another word.

* * *

(“I never believed in magic until I met you, Eunsang,” Minhee says to him when they are standing on the rooftop, halfway through sixteen. “You’re incredible. It’s like you have some kind of superpower.”

Eunsang laughs at him and shrugs his shoulders.

Still, no one in Seoul knows about his powers.)

* * *

Eunsang is seventeen when he thinks he falls in love.

He’s sitting on Minhee’s bed and it’s dark outside. The sun had set hours ago and Eunsang has been curled up in the corner of Minhee’s bed since he finished his essay and submitted it. He’s meant to be helping Minhee with writing his essay but Minhee insisted that he could do it alone. Eunsang starts to doubt it when Minhee is still trying to finish a report he started an hour earlier. The report is due in three hours and Minhee’s fingers don’t move fast enough for him to make the deadline.

“Come to bed,” he murmurs. Minhee sighs, exasperatedly.

“I can’t,” he replies. The clacking of his keyboard is loud as he continues to type. Eunsang chuckles. “I have to finish this essay, Eunsang. I can’t just come to bed. No one is going to write my essay for me.”

“You’re right,” Eunsang says and his lips curve into an amused smile. He plays with the edge of the blanket and tilts his head, “You already asked me to write it for you and I said ‘no’.”

“Then, why—,” Minhee emphasizes his words with a particularly harder press of his spacebar, “—are you trying to make me come to bed?” Another huff. “Are you trying to have me fail this class?”

Eunsang laughs. He’s quiet for a moment.

“Hey,” he calls. Minhee makes a sound of acknowledgement, annoyed.

“What?”

“Do you have a watch?” he asks. Minhee stops typing and turns to look at him in confusion.

“It’s nine,” he replies. He points at the digital clock hung up above his desk. Eunsang spares it a brief glance. Minhee frowns, “Why do you need a watch?”

Eunsang shrugs, “I’m just asking if you have one.”

Minhee makes a face but opens his desk drawer and pulls out an old watch. It has a leather strap and it’s a little worn out. Eunsang throws the blanket that is wrapped around his legs and slips off the bed.

His feet hit the floor with a soft thud and he walks over to where Minhee is sitting at his desk.

He wraps an arm around Minhee’s waist and places his fingers gently on the watch.

There’s a flash and then everything stops. _Everything except for himself and Minhee._

There’s a pause.

Minhee looks confused.

Eunsang breaks the silence before Minhee can say anything.

“Remember when you told me you believed in magic because of me?” Eunsang whispers to him.

Minhee turns his head and looks at him, eyes wide in amazement. He turns his head and looks at the clock mounted on the wall—the milliseconds are frozen. His lips part a little in shock.

“You—…” he breathes. Eunsang chuckles quietly. “What did you do?”

“I stopped time,” Eunsang replies, nonchalantly. Minhee gapes at him, speechless.

“Come to bed, Minhee,” he suggests with a mischievous smile. He picks up the watch from its place on Minhee’s desk and wraps his other arm around Minhee’s waist. Eunsang rests his chin on Minhee’s shoulder with a smile and closes his eyes; comfortable. “You have all the time in the world to finish your essay, now. You should get some rest and finish it later.”

Minhee stumbles over his words, _“I—how are you—…?”_

Eunsang laughs at him.

“Look at you, you can’t even form a proper sentence,” he teases. His eyes twinkle as he opens his eyes and looks at Minhee, “How are you going to finish your essay like this? You should just come sleep with me.”

Minhee relents.

(And Eunsang is seventeen when he falls asleep with his best friend in his arms. Eunsang is seventeen when one person in Seoul knows about his powers. Eunsang falls asleep with his heart beating erratically in his chest.)

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/yuseokki) / [cc](https://curiouscat.me/jjokkiri) ♡


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